


Book 1: Alternate Ending

by TheCrazyMasterless



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Ending, Book 1: Air, Korra's bending has been taken, No Fire, No earth, No water, Suicidality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 04:11:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18242123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCrazyMasterless/pseuds/TheCrazyMasterless
Summary: Korra's bending has been taken. She stands over the bluffs, deciding her fate.A.N.: Mind the tags. Suicidality is a theme.





	Book 1: Alternate Ending

Korra’s foot hovers across the edge. She inhales the last element she has a connection to. Her eyes close.

 

She follows her tears down to the tumultuous ocean below.

 

“Korra. This is not the way.”

 

Her eyes snap open. She’s no longer soaring down into the crushing waves of the South Pole’s seas. She’s somewhere strange and still; everything is pure white, but somehow slightly out of focus. Except the man beside her, glowing an eerie blue.

 

“Aang?”

 

“Why are you doing this, Korra? People still need you.”

 

“ _No_ they don’t. _No one_ needs me. I’m not the Avatar anymore.” Korra’s voice starts in a fierce denial, but breaks on her last words.

 

“Is that all that matters? Your bending?”

 

“My _bending_ is what made me _me_. I’m _nothing_ without it.” Korra is angry at this apparition, for his soft tone and his false wisdom. _What does he know_? He _never lost his bending_.

 

“You think bending is the only thing that makes a person worthwhile? That without those skills someone doesn’t even deserve to _live_?”

 

“ _No_ \- I mean _yes_ , but- ugh! I’m- I _was_ the Avatar! The world _needs_ the Avatar, and I _failed_. If I die, then the Avatar can be reborn as someone who isn’t such a.... disappointment.”

 

Korra choked back a cry.

 

“I’m so sorry, Korra. For everything that you’ve gone through, I’m so sorry. But this isn’t the way to fix things. Violence towards yourself won’t fix things.”

 

Aang’s sympathy feels like a blade to Korra. She turns away.

 

“This is the only way I can make it better. I’m.... useless. Nothing can ever make this better. It’s _over_.”

 

Aang hmms noncommittally.

 

“Open your eyes.”

 

Korra opens her eyes. She gasps.

 

She is hovering above the ocean waves, swirling wind shielding her from the rampaging water. But more than that, Korra notices the brilliant white overlaying yet enhancing everything around her. It almost hurts to look at.

 

_Is this the Avatar State_?

 

“It may hurt to see that there’s hope, but it’s always there. And you _always_ have the strength to endure.

 

‘Remember this wisdom, Korra: you _are_ the Avatar, but more than that, you are yourself.”

 

With the will of a thousand lives supporting her, Korra floats back atop the cliff.

 

The wind disperses and Korra stands alone, looking down at what she had tried to do.

 

“Korra?” Mako’s voice sounds tiny behind her.

 

She turns to him. His face is pale; he looks lost somehow, like this wasn’t how this was supposed to go.

 

Korra turns back to the cliff. She inhales.

 

“I need to talk to Katara.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a long long time ago, and have been too frightened to post it. I have a large backlog of other fics for various fandoms that I've been too paranoid to post until now. Please leave a comment, even a single word, if you would be so kind. I kind of need encouragement.


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